Europe

Hungary and Slovakia

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

I was so ridiculously happy and chilled out when I left Romania on Thursday that my first experience of racism went completely over my head. 

It took me about 15 minutes after the event to realise that a white van man was basically telling me to fuck off out of his country. Haha…I thought he either wanted to race me (not my thing) or ride Trinity but after thinking about what the women said that he had asked to translate for him, I realised that was not the case. He must have been so disappointed to get no reaction from me outside of my smiles and clear confusion about him wanting to ‘help me to the UK’. 

After 36 counties I’m probably luck that’s my first negative experience but this just confirms my belief that most people are good. You’ll definitely see that when you disarm them with a great big smile! That’s my weapon of choice anyway – kindness! 🙂

Feeling amused by my own ‘innocence’ and slightly sad about the guys limiting beliefs; off to the border Trinity and I went. The border crossing took about 20 minutes so it wasn’t too bad. From there I was heading to Debrecen. I decided to stay just outside of the city because there was parking and the hotel looked great. I fancied something nice that wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. Staying just outside is the city helped!

The little hotel, Boutique Hotel Kristály, was fabulous; clearly very new. I felt so spoiled! They didn’t serve dinner so I walked about 600m down the road to a restaurant. I had a pork dish that the waitress recommended. It was good and with a beer just over 7 Euro. Result!

I was down for breakfast at 7am and asked the receptionist for advice on what to do that day. She confirmed the plans that I had already considered, partially because she was from one of the towns, so that firmed things up in my head. 

My first stop would be Debrecen, which is lovely. The main street which passes the Parliament Buildings is particularly nice, so I kept within walking distance of that, partly because my phone was about to die and I needed to be able to retrace my steps if it did. 

From Debrecen I went to Sarospatak, which has a fabulous old fortress. I didn’t go into the museum but I did walk around the fortress and it was quite impressive. From there I went to Hercegkút to what I thought was an eco village with grass roofs but having been there I think it’s a cemetery. Hmmm, I still need to investigate what it actually is. The little huts built into the side of the mountain with the grass roofs are pretty cool though!

I’ve included some photos of Hungary below.

As the day was ticking along I decided to head straight to the High Tatras; the mountains that separate Slovakia and Poland. This would give me the chance to have a quiet day in the mountains, which turned out to be a fantastic decision.

There was no border crossing between Hungary and Slovakia – YAY! The border was marked by a sign along a gorgeous country road – it didn’t take me long to realise that I was going to love Slovakia! 

The towns that I passed are similar to Hungary; lovely but lacking the character of the Romanian towns (I really loved Romania). The countryside however is magnificent! It’s like Switzerland but with more lush, green farmland. It was jaw dropping from start to finish.

I had no idea where to stay in Slovakia so I went onto Bookings.com to find the most expensive hotel in the High Tatras and then choose one close to it. My thinking was that expensive hotels always have great locations. 

It was too late to go hiking after settling into the hotel, so I went exploring and found a little restaurant to have dinner. I asked the waitress for a recommendation – I wanted a local dish and of course to try out a local beer. She suggested a cheese dumpling and pork dish so I went with that. It was delicious! I have definitely realised that they like pork in Eastern Europe. 

Saturday was most definitely the highlight of my trip. After an early breakfast I headed to the visitor centre. My thinking was to catch the gondola up the mountain and have a little walk around before I had to check out of the hotel at 11:00. I wasn’t quite sure where I was meant to go so I just followed some hikers. I quickly realised that I was heading on a hike and not to the gondola. Okay, I thought, let’s see where this goes. 

After a stunning 45 minute hike up the mountain I reached a gorgeous waterfall. It was such an amazing setting. My heart and soul were rejoicing and I couldn’t stop smiling!

I sat on a rock under the waterfall and just watch two little kids playing on the rocks. They looked so happy; it was beautiful. I captured the moment in my mind and on camera and with a new spring in my step started making my way down the mountain. 

About a 10 minute walk from the waterfall I stopped to take a video, which I included below. It was a reminder to myself to spend more time in the mountains, I am at my happiest in the mountains, but I also wanted to share the moment with my friends and family. It’s my way of showing them the world through my eyes. 

The hotel that I stayed in was okay but not great so I wanted to move somewhere else, ideally somewhere slightly closer to Wroclaw, which is where I needed to get to yesterday. I found a hotel on-line in a tiny village that had a great view of the High Tatras. The hotel was the cheapest on Hotels.com so I booked it through there (it’s always worth checking a few apps for the best deal).

The 34 room hotel, Hotel Montford, was a little dated but the view was spectacular! Everything faced the mountain. It was the perfect place to spend my last full day on my trip. I had arrived at the hotel at 2pm, the earliest I could check in, so I had time to shower and replace the GoPro mount on Trinity before spending the afternoon outside on the terrace overlooking the mountain. It was perfect!

I sat on the terrace for a few hours, enjoying two beers (Saris which I loved), before heading into the restaurant to have dinner. I was savouring every second of the experience! 

For the first time on this trip I struggled to sleep, so I watched the sun starting to rise at 5am. I was ready to go back to work and my life in London but a part of me didn’t want the trip to finish – there’s was much more I want to see and explore. As I lay in bed overlooking the mountains I couldn’t help but think that this was only the start of my journey!

Bulgaria and Romania

Melanie de Wet1 Comment

Before this trip all I knew about either country was that they are in Europe, Dracula was from Transylvania, the Transfăgărășan is in Romania, Romanians are fantastic gymnasts, I was warned to be careful of pickpockets in Romania and a lot of cleaners in London are from both countries. So, not a lot really!

What I have discovered are countries steeped in history that are incredibly beautiful and are full of wonderful, warm people. I’m glad my eyes have been opened!

I left Greece on Sunday, 29 July and arrived in Sofia in the late afternoon. It was raining again, which was definitely starting to impact my mood. I managed to see a few sights before finding a hotel for the night.

You had to pay extra for parking. This was 7 Euro for a motorcycle, it would have been 15 Euro for a car. I’m normally not chuffed about paying for parking but I’d far rather do that in a city than have Trinity standing in the street. It turned out that the parking was accessed by a car lift. Woohoo…our first car lift. It was very exciting! 

Below is a short video including some photos of Sofia.

After having a shower and my complementary welcome drink, I headed out to find a local restaurant. Hmmm…this was not as easy as you would think in a major city, so I ended up going back to the hotel restaurant to have dinner. 

It had been raining a lot the last week and the forecast was for rain the next three days. I was considering whether to cut my trip short but I realised that I would regret my decision later, so I decided to soldier on. I’m glad I did.

From Sofia I went to Plovdiv, which was voted as the European city of culture in 2019. The city has a great vibe to it and I quickly realised that I preferred it to Sofia. That and also that my mood was improving.

A few photos of the city are provided below. 

I spent a few hours walking around the city before hitting the road for Veliko Turnovo. My spirit hit new heights when I saw Trinity was approaching 33,333 miles on her clock. 

Out of curiosity I starting counting the number of countries that we had been through. We were on 22 before we left the UK, so I counted the new ones that we had visited on this trip. We had now covered 33,333 miles across 33 counties in 3 years and 3 months. How bloody brilliant! Clearly good things do come in threes.

Now I was ready to take on the world!

Veliko Turnovo is a city with a 5,000 year history. The small, picturesque city is home to one of Europe’s grandest medieval monuments, the Tsaravets Fortress, which was visible from the hotel that I was staying at. 

The old city is fantastic! It is like stepping back in time. I almost felt like I was on a movie set. I walked around the old town for about 1.5 hours before heading to the hotel for a night cap. I like to try a new local beer in every county. Tonight is was Britos. It was good (I still prefer the Alpha in Greece though).

Below are some photos of Veliko Turnovo.

The next couple of days would be my opportunity to see Romania. The Transfăgărășan (National Road 7C), which has been voted as one of the best roads in the world to ride and Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle) were the top of my list of things to see. I really didn’t know what else to expect. 

I was now starting to get really excited about being on the road again; regardless of the weather. Having something to look forward to definitely helps but taking stock of what Trinity and I had already achieved was the extra bit of encouragement that I had needed. 

From Veliko Turnovo I headed straight to Pitesti, where I had lunch before continuing north on route 7C; the Transfăgărășan Highway. The road doesn’t get windy until you hit Vidraru Dam, which itself is quite spectacular.

From there the road starts to meander through the mountains until it finally reaches a clearing near Balea Waterfall. The road either side of that is what you see in the photos of the road. It is pretty spectacular! It was raining and the road condition isn’t the best so I took the ride pretty slowly. 

I stopped a few times along the way to enjoy the view and take some photos. I also bought some cheese and two types of dried sausage at Balea Waterfall, which came in very handy that night. 

It was approaching 6pm and the weather was starting to turn so I decided to find  somewhere to sleep that night. I took a chance at a place along the way, which was showing as having rooms on Bookings.com, but they told me they were full. I went online and managed to find a place 15 miles away, so off I went.

The ride to Ucea du Sus, a little village, was certainly interesting. The little villages along the way are adorable but the roads are pretty poor and you need to look out for horses, cows and dogs.

Below is a video of what I mean. 

The place I was staying was on a blueberry farmers property. It’s not quite what I was expecting but it was absolutely fine and he and his family were incredibly friendly. He offered me a beer, he drinks Becks, and a big bowl of blueberries. There was a kitchen that I could use but I didn’t. Of course it was now that the cheese and sausages that I had bought earlier came in handy (haha…everything happens for a reason). There was no WiFi access so I didn’t post any photos (now you know why dad). So that night I had a picnic in my room and watched some TV.

Yesterday was a full day. I was hoping to have some coffee and the roll I had bought the night before but there were no filters. Bugger! After eating my roll and having another chat with the farmer, he really was quite lovely, I hit the road. I was running low on petrol so that was my current priority. 

There was a petrol station on National Road 1 about 10 miles away. I ended up stopping there for about an hour. I had  two cups of coffee, a chat to a lovely German biker and also tried to help out another BMW rider who didn’t have the right tool for his bike. He was on a 1200 GS. We discovered that the two bikes do not use the same tools so sadly I couldn’t help him. Hopefully he came right.

My first stop for the day was Bran Castle, which is in the town of Bran. It was packed with tourists but fantastic to see. I was full of historical artifacts which were wonderful to see.

From Ban Castle I drove past Rasnov Citadel before heading to Braşov, which is incredibly colourful and beautiful. It’s also the first time that I’ve seen a Starbucks in Eastern Europe. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen a McDonalds either until I hit Bulgaria. Interesting!

I walked around Braşov, had an ice cream and a coffee and then hit the road again. I generally don’t like to be on the road after 7pm so I wanted to see how far I could get. That turned out to be Sighisoara. 

Below are some photos of the day.

Sighisoara is fantastic! The hotel I stayed at gave me a free bottle of wine so I broke with my normal ‘have a new beer’ tradition and had the wine instead. It was great, although there was no way I could finish the bottle.

I walked around the area near my hotel this morning and I was completely blown away by the beauty and history of the town. I’m aware that I only have 4 days left of my trip and I just want time to stop. It’s been absolutely incredible and I’m now so grateful that I decided to dtick to my original plan.

Below are are some photos of this morning’s walk.

Today I will be heading to Hungry and I’m looking forward to seeing what the country has to offer. I will think back fondly of my time in Bulgaria and Romania! It’s not only taught me a lot about these countries but also a lot about myself and the fact that you should never give up. You never know what’s just around the corner.

Let’s go find out!

Greece

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

Greece is so special that it needs its own post. 

Although I never felt unsafe in Albania, except in my own head, I was so happy to arrive in Greece and be back in the EU. For one thing I could switch my mobile data back on…woohoo!! This is me happy.

I arrived into Greece just south of Lake Ohrid. There was a queue of cars at customs, which I have never seen before. Next to the cars was a queue of people with their bags on what looked like a conveyer belt – like you get at an airport check in. One of the border control officers, this time a lady with a cup of coffee in hand (it made me smile), asked ‘where are you from’? ‘The UK’, I said. ‘The UK, okay you can go’. She said that smiling. 

I suspect if I had said that I was from Albania I would have been unpacking my panniers in the same way that all the cars were being inspected. Also something I had not seen at any of the other border crossings.

The place I was most excited to see in Greece was Meteora. Outside of looking at a few guidebooks I watched a number of YouTube videos about places to see in the various countries, and spoke to people of course. The below video sold Meteora to me. It also sold me the idea of buying a drone (that and seeing a friend’s in action). 

Meteora is stunning! It has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip. The beauty of the 400m monoliths in western Thessaly between the towering peaks of Pindus and the Antichasia mountains cannot be conveyed in words or photos (none that I can take anyway). 

The bonus to this natural beauty are the monasteries and nunneries perched on the top of the monoliths. Most can be accessed by stairs, although they are not always open e.g. the Holy Monastery of Saint Nikolas is closed to the public on Fridays. It was Friday when I was touring the area.

I went into two of the Monasteries; Holy Monastery of Saint Barbara – Roussanou  and the second one’s name I didn’t record sadly. The monasteries are magnificent!  You are not allowed to take photos in the monasteries so I’ll try and describe them as simply as possible. 

The main buildings are constructed of stone floors, exploded brick walls, with thick wooden beams and wooden ceilings. The buildings were simple but works of art in their own right. Very typical Greek construction. 

There were clay pots and other old artefacts on the floors and old paintings on the walls (in the Holy Monastery of Saint Barbara – Roussanou anyway). The rooms were quite minimalist but it suited the environment perfectly. 

The chapels were exquisite! The small chapels, accessed from the main buildings, had high arch ceilings all painted with intricate religious paintings mostly black and white). There were delicate golden chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and beautifully crafted dark wooden high sided benches along the walls. Some of the walls were a faint black from what I assume was candle smoke. They were quite breathtaking. Not ornate; just perfect!

Below are some photos of Meteora and the monasteries. 

After a wonderful morning exploring the monasteries I left Meteora to head to Volos. A friend of mine from work recommended that I go there. It’s apparently where Mama Mia was filmed. 

From that description I thought it was going to be some cute little seaside village. It was definitely not small! 

If I’m doing a city break then I’m happy to visit a city. If I’m on Trinity I want to be in the middle of nowhere or in a little village somewhere. You get incredibly hot when stuck in traffic, particularly when it’s already 32 degrees Celsius outside (it’s like wearing a winter coat in summer), and then there is the issue of the bike’s safety. Cities are not safe places for bikes. 

Wanting to avoid the city centre I booked into a hotel on the mountain behind the city. It was a great choice. The little town was really quaint and had a great view over the city and sea. The hotel, Hotel Erofili, was generally fine except my room didn’t have a balcony (it said it did when I booked it) and it was missing one half of the shower door. Hmmm! Clearly, I wouldn’t stay there again. 

That said, I enjoyed my stay nonetheless.  I tried a Mythos beer that night. It was okay but not as good as the Alpha which I had in Meteora. I enjoyed my beer in a little public square under the trees. The one thing I really liked were all the little water fountains everywhere. I wasn’t sure if they were just for show but then I one of the guys at the table next to me stood up and filled his glass from it. Brilliant! 

I was really keen to spend some time at the beach, I was in Greece after all, so I booked a 2 hour sea kayaking tour at a beach about an hour away. I was so excited! I left 70 minutes before the session started which in theory was plenty of time or so I thought. 

I have now learned not to blindly follow Google Maps in Greece. It took me on a wild goose chase twice. The first in the village I was staying in which cost me 10 minutes and then it took me down some dodgy dirt road in the mountains near the beach. My heart was pounding going down the mountain because all I could think was don’t drop the blood bike. I was in the middle of nowhere! I was just thinking that I didn’t have that much further to go when my next nasty surprise arrived. The road was gated off. You have got to be bloody kidding me I thought!

Below is the dead end road.

Slightly distraught because now I had to get back up the mountain and I was definitely now going to miss my kayaking, I  waited at the gate for 5 minutes, mostly to compose myself before tacking the track again. If I could pick Trinity up the track would not have bothered me (or if I was on a smaller bike) but I knew I had no room for error and that made me nervous. That or a long walk to find someone to help me pick her up. 

In the end it was fine. My nervousness turned into sheer determination and found the tarred road down to the beach. There was a little cafe on the beach so I ordered an iced coffee and enjoying the view when I received a message from the Kayaking company asking me if I needed help. How sweet!

As it turns out Google Maps does this a lot in Greece. George told me that he knew exactly where I was as they had to rescue a couple the week before from the same spot when it was raining and they got stuck. His advice was to make sure you stick to tarred roads. 

As luck would have it there was space for me to join the 4 hour sea kayaking session at 12:30. That would mean that I wouldn’t be able to leave for Thessaloníki before 17:00. That wasn’t ideal but I thought it was worth making the time up later on. It was!

The sea kayaking was great fun! I was with a German family from Berlin who were very sweet and kept offering me food (I will never complain about that). We stopped three times along the route. The first time to walk through an opening in the rocks. It was here that we ate sea snails off the rocks. I’m not a massive seafood fan but had to give it a go. It wasn’t too bad actually.

Our next two stops were on the beach. The first at a secluded beach. George told me that I got stuck in the mountain not far from the beach. I could now laugh at the experience, which I did. Our final stop was on a public beach, where we stopped for about 30 minutes. It started raining when we were there so I stood in the sea while it was raining and just enjoyed the view. It was so peaceful and lovely! It was a great experience. 

I spent the evening in Poly’s Guesthouse in a little town just outside of Thessaloníki, called Katachás. I suspect the town is typical of any small town in Greece, which means it look a little run down by British standards but fabulous compared to many of the other countries that I have been through on this trip. 

The guesthouse itself was great. It was definitely the nicest place in the village from what I saw. The two ladies running it were also great. The one spoke with an American accent, which I commented on. It turned out she grew up in New York. This was definitely a far cry from New York. 

It was a really good thing that I stayed in this little place as Trinity was right outside my bedroom window. This was very convenient from an unpacking/packing perspective and also enabled me to check my panniers for water leaks again. There was water in both of them so I had to clear the water out first and dry them out. 

While I was there I decided to figure out how to replace the oil in my Scott Oiler. It’s a devise on my bike that automatically oils my chain, rather than having to do that manually all the time. I normally get BMW to do it but didn’t during my last service so it was long overdue. 

After about 10 seconds of watching a YouTube video (I bloody love YouTube) I knew what to do. Three minutes later, we were back in business. It was so easy!

I arrived in Thessaloníki just before midday. The only things I really wanted to see were the ancient ruins. My first stop was the Rotonda Roman Temple which was build around 300AD. It was absolutely mind blowing that the building was in such good order. The mosaics inside had perished quite a bit (a lot had either fallen off or had been removed) but you could get a really good feeling of what it would have looked like. It was fantastic!

Below is s video from inside the temple.

There was a single drainage point in the centre of the building, made of marble, and if you tapped your foot on it it echoed throughout the building. It was brilliant and really made me smile.

Next where the Arch of Galerius, a history fountain and Telli Kapi which were nearby, before stopping at a juice bar to get a vitamin fix. It was so yummy! From there I went to see the old Roman Forum, which was also build around the same time as the temple. Sadly it was not preserved quite as well. 

The one thing that I found really sad in Thessaloniki was the amount of graffiti everywhere, including on the ancient buildings. Street art is one thing, which I actually love, but ruining precious parts of history to me is sacrilege. The grounds of the ruins are also not very well kept. Maybe they want it that way but when I looked at the ruins of the buildings dating back nearly 2,000 years and the apartment blocks in the background I was disappointed by our lack of progress as a society. This really can’t be the best that we can do!

Below are some photos of my day on the beach and the ruins in Thessaloniki.

Next…Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Macedonia and Albania

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

I arrived in Macedonia on Wednesday, 25 June. My Green Card was expiring that day, so the date sticks in my mind. The border control officer picked up on that too, so I told a little lie (it was a calculated risk) and said I was driving through to Greece – I was the next day via Albania but he didn’t have to know that. 

Macedonia is lovely! It had big rolling hills with fabulous mountains. I found the countryside of Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo quite similar. I would say Montenegro too but the mountains are more dramatic there.

The one thing I didn’t enjoy though were the toll roads. I assume it was just the motorway that I was on but there was a tollbooth about every 20-30km. Given that it was raining on my way to Macedonia and I was still wet, putting wet gloves on and off and trying to find change every 15 min got a little annoying. Croatia also had a lot of toll roads but at least they were far apart and there was glorious sunshine the whole time. 

The bonus of the motorway was of course that I could make better progress. I was originally thinking to stay at Lake Ohrid, which from the name I thought would be a nice quiet location. After looking for accommodation I realised it isn’t. Hmm…not quite what I was looking for. As a result I decided to head to Mavrovo National Park. My heart is always happiest in the mountains, so it was an easy decision.

The roads through the park are a little rough but that’s the advantage of being on the motorcycle – it’s no worry and actually makes the ride that little more exciting. I hadn’t booked anywhere but I remembered seeing a few places in the park so I wasn’t worried about finding a place to stay. 

I was just getting to the point when I was thinking that I need to find something now, and there it was. Woohoo! They even had a room for me.

A couple of things stand out for me about my stay in Macedonia. Firstly, it was so cheap! I had a three course dinner, a beer and a coffee for £10. Secondly, my waiter spoke English (I’m starting to think everyone in Eastern Europe speaks English). Finally, I cannot forget my incident in the shower. The place that I was staying in had a shared bathroom. That’s fine except that the bathroom didn’t have a key. What? As it turned out the toilet next door did have a key and the key worked for the shower room. Phew! 

It didn’t end there though. When I tried to move the shower head up on the rail the rail pulled out of the wall. Eek!! At first I was mortified and then I just laughed. Really? I didn’t put that much pressure on the rail. After a minute of having a hand shower I realised I hadn’t seen the skew fall out. Hmm…I suspect I’m not the first person this has happened to. Yup, the wall plug was still attached to the rail, so I popped it back into the wall. All ‘fixed’! 

It rained during the evening and was still raining when I left in the morning so I didn’t get to see the park. Instead I headed towards Lake Ohrid, which is bordered by Macedonia on the east and Albania on the west (you know where this is heading). 😉

Some photos of Macedonia are provided below. 

I wanted to fill up with petrol and have lunch before I went into Albania. As I drove towards the lake I found a ‘private beach’ on the lake. It looked a lot nicer than the rest of the town, so I was happy to stop there. 

This place could not be any more different from the rest of the town. It was very nice! It felt a little strange being in such a nice place given the very basic town I had just driven through. Swanky or not, a Greek salad, chick risotto and two macchiatos cost just under £8. I was not complaining but was slightly taken aback by how cheap it was. This would not be the first or last time that I would be taken aback on this day.

Filling up at the petrol filling station was so surreal and would set the tone for the next few hours. Pulled up next to me at the petrol filling station was a brand new Audi A8 and also a old rickety tractor. Two more opposite worlds could not meet in one place…or so I thought.

As it turns out, ‘where two world collide’ could not be more true than in Albania. On one hand I saw eight horse driven carts (and a donkey loaded with corn – see photo below) and on the other hand I saw loads of brand new luxury cars, mostly Mercedes and Audi (almost always in black). The contrast was astounding!

The donkey in disguise below.

To be honest, I was slightly nervous about heading into Albania. There are enough horror stories about human trafficking and the like in the news and we’ve also had Albania prostitutes in our building (long story but they left once the police paid them a visit), so I’m aware these aren’t just stories. It didn’t of course help that when I was approaching the border there was a sign saying, ‘All smuggling and corruption to be reported at the border’. There were also signs about human trafficking on the walls. It was slightly intimidating (and incredibly sad)! I really didn’t know what to think, except ‘what the hell are you doing’?

I still want to do more research on Albania but out of Montenegro (except the coastal area), Serbia and Kosovo, Albania is far more vibrant and colourful. It also feels like there is more money, even though it has very clear signs of terrible poverty. 

Having compared crime statistics (assuming you can believe these of course), the murder rate in Albania per 100,000 people is actually not much higher than that in the USA and UK. It used to be much higher but has seen a dramatic decrease over the last 10 years. Now that I did find interesting!

It’s therefore difficult to know what is real danger and what is perceived danger. Of course the fact that my motorcycle insurance would cover all countries, except Kosovo (technically an independent state not country) and Albania does say something. As a result I didn’t stop anywhere for long (partly because the border control officer did not ask me whether I had insurance, which I didn’t have, so I was driving through the country without insurance) but I tried to keep an open mind with regards to my observations. It was certainly an interesting country to visit and to be honest, outside of Montenegro I found it the most beautiful in terms of landscape. 

Below are a couple of images of Albania. 

Next…Greece!

P.S. this Top Gear episode about Albania is really funny and worth watching (no offence of course intended to anyone from Albania).

https://youtu.be/Sfkh7WtW7Po

Kosovo

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

I spent the night in a fab place in Kopaonik and was now ready for the ride through Kosovo. The ride to the border, as I’d discovered the day before, was 20 minutes away. I was enjoying the ride down the mountain, particularly as it had stopped raining, so I was a little taken a back when I saw three army guys on the side of the road with a huge gun (like something you’d shoot an aeroplane down with) and a separate vehicle with what looked like an oblong satellite dish which was spinning around (I was thinking that it was some sort of communication or listening device). 

It was so surreal that for a split second I actually wanted to stop and take a photo but thank goodness my sane mind kicked in. All I could think was, ‘if you’re going to shoot that thing make sure it’s in the opposite direction to me’! 

Okay, that I wasn’t expecting but now I was awake. 

I arrived at the border not knowing what to expect. I had seen from various biker blog posts that you could buy insurance at the border. I had 50 Euros in cash with me. It cost 10 Euros for two weeks. Bargain!

The Serbia/Kosovo border was the friendliest border crossing I have had to date. The border control officers were lovely and again, all spoke English to varying degrees. They also loved Trinity! At a stage there were four of them checking her out. I couldn’t decide whether to be flattered or slightly worried. It turned out to be just fine! What did stand our was that the guys were all lovely but the lady that sold me the insurance was a little grumpy. I’ve experienced that a few times on this trip. It’s been an interesting observation. 

Kosovo was not what I was expecting, not that I knew what to expect. The countryside is beautiful, just like Serbia and Montenegro (although not as mountainous as Montenegro). The towns are buzzing, still a little run down, but you can see there is money being invested in infrastructure. The clearest sign of this was a new road being built in a valley as I was approaching Macedonia. It looked like they were building a bridge along the whole length of this valley. It seemed like a very expensive way to build a road but it was impressive from an Engineering perspective. There were a lot of new motorways being built so there is definitely money being pumped into infrastructure. This is good as the roads in the cities, Phristina in particular, were terrible. Their drainage was nonexistent, which wasn’t great as it was bucketing down with rain. There were points in the road that looked like river crossings – it was nuts! 

At this point I also realised that my new lightweight waterproofs were firstly, too short as water was coming into my left boot and secondly, not up to the standard of my BMW one’s, which I left at home because they’re much bulkier and I didn’t think that I’d need them. Well, I now have vivid memories of passing cars and trucks spraying water all of me. It was kinda funny, even if I had a wet left foot. 

I only stopped twice in Kosovo. The first was to take a photo of a mosque that I liked. They are everywhere but I liked this one. The second time was to fill up with petrol. Kosovo has a healthy mix of traditional and modern petrol filling (gas) stations. It may be the American influence. This was was liked to a hotel (a slightly odd combination) but I knew at least they’d have a clean toilet. It was spotless, albeit a shared bathroom, which was interesting. 

I decided to make use of the opportunity to use their WiFi and try out some local items – a banana chocolate bar (the guy behind the counter recommended it) and a grape juice. Both were good. I’ve included my Instagram post of the two below. 

I got caught in traffic quite a lot in Kosovo. The roads north of Phristina are single lane and there was a lot of traffic. There was also an accident that held things up a bit. I’m not surprised that happened; their driving is a little nuts. At a point there was a guy in a black Golf that was filtering through the traffic like a motorcycle. I couldn’t believe my eyes. 

I also saw an armoured vehicle (the only one). It didn’t have any guns though; a downgrade on my Serbian experience. Outside of the above though, it was a pretty easy ride. 

Next…Macedonia!

Montenegro and Serbia

Melanie de Wet1 Comment

I spent the night in Durmitor National Park which looked fantastic! I say looked because I didn’t have time to actually go into the park – I was really seeing things from the periphery. There is so much to do there if you like adventure holidays, including zip lining the Tara Canyon, canyoning, river rafting and Land Rover tours of the park. The prices range from 10 Euro to 60 Euro for the activities (great value in my books). 

I’d been relying of free WiFi wherever I went, which wasn’t a problem as there is always a cafe, restaurant or petrol filling station somewhere on route that has WiFi. I hadn’t booked accommodation so I pitched up in the little town just outside of the park and walking into a tourist office which was advertising accommodation (Sobe is most of Eastern Europe). It was here that I heard about all the activities in the park. I was very tempted to go exploring but I was already 2 days behind schedule so couldn’t fall further behind.

The room the tourist office (operator really) had on offer was 15 Euro a night. It was basic, again with a shared bathroom, but it was fine for one night. The young guy who came down to fetch me was very friendly and told me how he loved the UK and watching Bear Grills on satellite TV. It made me smile that this is his association with the UK. It’s certainly a far cry from most of the Brits I know.

The young chap recommended a local restaurant at the end of the road which I attended. There were three things that stood out for me about this restaurant. Firstly, the Jazz band that played that night. Secondly, the two American couples at the table next to me (I’d heard a lot of American accents on this trip). Finally, the motorcycle couple from the Netherlands that I’d met earlier on in the day at the Ostrog Monastery were sitting three tables down from me. How funny. We didn’t speak though.

I woke up around 7am and got up shortly thereafter. I knew I had a long day ahead of me as I wanted to get to Nis, Serbia but also wanted to make some stops along the way. The first being Tara Canyon.

Before heading off I popped into a local shop with the hope of getting some breakfast. I thought they’d have some pastries but alas, they didn’t, only bread and bread rolls. I bought a banana and a bottle of Kifir for 76 cents and then went across the road to a cafe. I bought a coffee and what I thought was pie. It wasn’t. It tasted more like pizza. It wasn’t bad but not what I was expecting for breakfast. It was also huge so I only had half is it.

Some photos of the night and start of the day are provided below. 

The coffee was okay. I had discovered that in general the coffee in Montenegro was not particularly good. A huge disappointment for someone who loves coffee. The barista makes a difference too though. I had two lattes at this little cafe with the most gorgeous view over Tara Canyon; the first cup was great but the second only mediocre. 

Tara River Canyon itself is however stunning! The bridge crossing the canyon is featured in a lot tourist material so I was keen to see it. It fits perfectly into the steep canyon, with it turquoise coloured water flowing in the bottom. I could feel my heart beating that little faster as the excitement within me grew by the minute. I am so coming back here for an adventure weekend! 

Some photos of Tara River Canyon an Biogradska Gora National Park are provided below. 

I found it a little difficult to drag myself away from Tara River Canyon, hence the two cups of coffee and a couple of calls. I was dying to show my nieces and dad the canyon but sister-in-law wasn’t available and my dad was out shopping and could only take a voice call (he doesn’t have data on his phone). I had to send and post a photo instead. It’s not quite the real thing but it was the best way I could share the experience with them. 

As soon as I hit the mountains in Montenegro the sunny weather I had experienced down the coast of Croatia was replaced with mist and cloud. There is something really special to me about mist. It makes the mountains look mysterious. I love it!

I left Tara River Canyon and headed east towards Biogradska Gora National Park which is about an hour’s ride away along the twisty mountain roads. The area is wild, unspoiled and beautiful.

It cost 2 Euro to get into Biogradska Gora National Park, which is the price I paid at the others too. I can’t buy a latte in London for that price!

My experience at Biogradska Gora was quite different from Durmitor National Park. The park is definitely more for campers and hikers. There were loads of people about when I arrived at the park; understandably as this is where the visitor centre is. 

After I parked Trinity I headed for the loo, which was in a little hut in the middle of the forest. When I got there I noticed it was another ‘hole in the floor’. As soon as I caught a whiff of the smell I didn’t need the toilet anymore, so I headed to the lake. 

This was the second time I had come across these loos in Montenegro. The first time was at the Ostrog Monastery. I assume these are septic tanks, which may be better for the environment but I am really sensitive to smell and they make me heave. I used the one at Ostrog but I had to breathe into the toilet paper so that I wouldn’t throw up. This was not an experience I wanted to repeat. I’d far rather hold it in or pee in the bush. I opted for the former as I wasn’t that desperate.

The lake is beautiful! There is something so serene about about a lake nestled between the mountains. I stood there for a while enjoying the view and the quietness. Then I took a few photos and went to the visit centre to look at the exhibits before hitting the road again. It was now midday.

I reached the Serbian border just after 2pm. The border control officer did not mind the photocopy of my Green Card. Yay! That’s another one down. Only one more country to go that needed the Green Card and then I was home free. Yes, I am counting them down. 

I had no idea what to expect of Serbia. In a nutshell, it was similar to Montenegro but just a lot busier. Similar to Montenegro there were a lot of unfinished/derelict buildings in the towns but the one thing that really stood out for me was the number of car washing places. They are everywhere! I had to smile because I’m sure the guys that was my friend Angela’s car in London are from Serbia. I’ll have to ask her. 

I stopped at a petrol filling station to use the loo and saw that they had WiFi, so I decided to stay for a coffee and also have a look for accommodation. Nis was still 3.5 hours away. Hmmm! My other slight concern was how safe Trinity would be in the street that night in the city, so I started to look at some other options. 

I had responded to an insurance question on a biking forum on Facebook and as a result started chatting to a guy called Darren a.k.a. The Jersey Biker. I had mentioned that I wanted to go through Kosovo but wasn’t sure if it was safe. As it turn out he works for the military and has been to Kosovo a lot. He told he that it was safe and sent me the contact details of an officer in Phristine, who would be able to show me around on the weekend. I couldn’t stay that long but it gave me the reassurance that I needed. This definitely changed my plans. I could now ride through Kosovo and not around it which would save me hours on the bike. Bonus!

I had a look on the map and noticed a ‘green area’, which are normally parks, so I asked the lady in the petrol station shop what the area was like. It turns out it’s a ski town in Serbia called Kopaonik and it’s very nice. Great, that was the plan then. 

It took me about an hour to get to Kopaonik, basically because I missed my turnoff and ended up at the  Kosovo border. Well, at least I knew where it was now. Kopaonik is about a 20 minute ride up the mountain from the border. 

I ended up staying in a place called Nicole, which is about 2km outside of Kopaonik. There is a lot of building happening in the area; clearly now resorts being built in preparation for the next ski season. Outside of the building at Durmitor National Park, this was the most development I had seen on my trip. 

My room was fantastic! Everything was brand new and very modern in the one bedroom apartment, which cost a grand 32 Euros for the night. Between my room, dinner and breakfast my stay cost 50 Euros and I ate like a queen. The same thing would have cost three times the price anywhere else in Europe. It was brilliant. I also really enjoyed the local beer, which again was cheaper than my coffee in the morning, which had also improved since Montenegro. Photos of Serbia below (click the photo to see all of them). 

It rained all night so there was not much that I could do so I watched a movie; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I couldn’t resist. My younger bother and I watched the cartoon religiously as kids. It made me think of my baby brother and that was just perfect. 

Next….Kosovo. 

Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

I left Split on Saturday morning and headed towards Bosnia. The aim for the day was to go and see Stari Most, a rebuilt 16th-century Ottoman bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina that crosses the river Neretva and connects the two parts of the city, and then head to Dubrovnik. This would be the first time I ventured outside of the EU on this trip. It also marked the 26th country I have toured on a motorcycle (25 on Trinity). 

There were two things I was slightly concerned about. Firstly, the border crossing (I’ll explain why in a mo), secondly, not knowing what to expect and finally, not having my mobile phone to rely on (I normally navigate using Goodge Maps) but since I was outside of the EU the data would cost a bundle. 

I was nervous arriving at the border as I discovered the day I was supposed to leave Poland that I needed a ‘green card’ to ride through some of the counties I would be visiting. My first thought was what the hell is a green card? Turns out it’s ‘international’ insurance papers for the vehicle you are driving. Apparently I should have given my insurance company three weeks notice before I left the UK. Oops! I was already in Poland at the time and about to head off on my trip. Clearly I should have read my insurance papers earlier! 

Anyway, the lovely chap from Carole Nash managed to get me a green card sorted out in 5 working days and sent me a PDF copy via email. I got a random hotel in Split to print me off a copy (thank you Villa Diana Hotel) so I was hoping this would do. Really, I was praying it would do!

I arrived at the Croatian/Bosnian border with my passport and copy of my green card to hand. After a wait in the baking sun I handed the border officer my paperwork. He proceeded to say, ‘where is the original’? At which point I said, ‘I only have a copy and the PDF the insurance company sent me’. ‘This isn’t valid’, he said. ‘Oh shit’ I said in my head, what now! ‘Where are you going to’, he said. ‘To Mostar and then Dubrovnik’, I said. ‘Don’t make accident’, he said, ‘these papers aren’t valid’. Then he let me enter the country. Phew! Now I just mustn’t make an accident I thought. Thank goodness I didn’t!

It takes about an hour to ride from the border to Mostar. All I did was follow the road signs. There is a distinct difference between Croatia and Bosnia. For one, there is clearly less wealth. Secondly, the architecture is slightly different. Thirdly, it’s a lot drier and finally, there are mosques.

The road to Mostar is well signposted so it was easy to find. I couldn’t find a parking space near the Stari Most (the arch bridge), so I parked down the road and walked up to the bridge. A lot of the shops along, what I assume is, the high street are empty or boarded/bricked up. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. 

The bridge itself and the market where great! There were a lot of interesting lamps and artefacts that you could buy. I have no space on Trinity but I enjoyed looking at them nonetheless. I probably spent about an hour walking around before heading back to Trinity. Just as well as I think two guys were trying to get into her panniers. I’m still not sure but I spotted them from about 100m away and they kept looking around. As soon as they saw me they walked away. I wasn’t sure if they were up to no good at the time but after trying to access her left pannier I knew someone had tried to access it as my key was jumming in the lock. After thinking about it I had to laugh – someone damaged the right pannier in California and now the left in Bosnia. It just shows ‘bad’ thing happen everywhere. Luckily I have two locks on each pannier (one on each side). It’s probably time I have the two damaged ones replaced before I’m locked out of my own panniers One day.

Below are some photos of the day.

I ideally should have driven through Bosnia to Dubrovnik but since I didn’t have Google Maps to rely on I travelled back on the same road. This meant another hour’s wait at the border, and of course a second set of border crossings when I got closer to Dubrovnik. FYI – there is a strip of land outside of Dubrovnik which falls within Bosnia, so you have to drive through Bosnia to ride the full extent of Croatia.  

As I’d been told at the first border crossing that my papers weren’t valid I was expecting to be stopped at the second crossing. My heart started beating faster when I reached border control, only for the border control officer to wave me through. He didn’t even check my passport! There are a lot of people on mopeds that clearly ride between the two countries so he probably thought I was a local. This is my take on it anyway. Whatever his reasoning I was happy! 

By the time I reached Dubrovnik it was about 7pm and I just wanted to find a place to stay and somewhere to eat. As I approached the city I could see a lot of boats in a harbour so I decided I would head that way. There were two places available on bookings.com near the water so I picked the one with the nicest view. They were a similar price so why not!

The room was basic and had a shared bathroom but it was more than adequate. The lady running the place was lovely! She offered me a glass of orange juice and sat speaking to me, in her basic English, before pointing me in the direction of the local restaurants. She was so sweet! 

I left around 10am in the morning to head to Montenegro (I’m not great at getting up early even if I wake up pretty early). The ride south of Dubrovnik is absolutely breathtaking! I will definitely go back there as some stage as I didn’t get to see the city properly and it looks fantastic. 

After a stop at a local cafe for some breakfast…and a giggle (slightly in horror) at the guys on their beers and whiskey at 10:30 in the morning, I hit the road again. This is probably aided by the fact that a beer is cheaper than a coffee (certainly a latte anyway). 

I reached the border around 11:30. Someone is clearly taking good care of me at these border crossings! At the Croatian/Montenegro border they were more concerned about my ownership papers (thank goodness I had the original for that). All the border control officer asked was do you have the original green card. I said yes (well I have a PDF version on my phone so it wasn’t a complete lie). He was happy with that and let me in. Phew!

Slightly worried about racking up a silly phone bill I switched off my mobile data. I could still see where I was on Google Maps and that was all I needed. From the border I went straight to Kotor, which is great. I walked around the old city for a couple of hours before heading for the mountains. I was really looking forward to some cooler weather (the warm weather in Croatia is fantastic but hard going on the bike in slow traffic). 

Below are some photos of the border crossing and Kotor.

The one thing that really strikes you in Montenegro is the mountains. They are similar to those in Norway – very steep but without the water. They are fantastic! 

This was the view from the mountain just north of Budva. I was literally in the clouds!

At the coast Montenegro is quite similar to Croatia but there’s a big difference once you head into the mountains – things become a lot more basic. The bonus is that they use Euros and, like in Coatia, most people speak English to some level. 

My intention for the day was to get as far as Biogradska Gora National Park but I never got that far (just as well as it turns out there’s not much there, which I discovered the next day). I did however manage to see the Ostrog Monastery and meet some more fellow travellers along the way. At the bottom of the hill I met a couple from the Netherlands, also on motorcycles. At the top of the hill, in the long queue waiting to enter the monastery, I met a couple from the UK, Jonathan and Anne (hopefully I remembered their names correctly). They were awesome! 

They had travelled 2 hours out of their way to visit the monastery. I was passing it on my way from Lovcen National Park to Durmitor National Park. I had seen the monastery noted as one of the ‘must sees’ in Montenegro in a YouTube video (the source of all knowledge you know, so I wanted to see it.

Anyway it turns out it is not just a tourist attraction but a sacred religious place. Everyone (except us) were kissing the doorways or doors entering and exiting the monastery. There was also one room where a priest was praying (I assume giving a blessing to someone leaned over what looked like a coffin but I don’t think it was). It was a little freaky as I, as well as my fellow UK travellers, had no idea what was going on or what to do, so we turned around and left before we got to the priest. 

At this point I should say that we stood in a rainstorm for an hour to get into the monastery! I now know for a fact that my North Face Gore-Tex jacket is only good for about 15 minutes of heavy rain. After that it soaked up water like a sponge. I was still wringing water out of it 2 hours later when I was trying to ‘dry out’. That bit was not so much fun but it was hilarious sharing the experience with Jonathan and Anne and also discovering that you can buy an ‘Irish cream coffee’ at the vending machine at the bottom of the monastery. We thought it must be a language thing so I ordered one (it was only 50 cent). It wasn’t, it was the ‘real thing’. As Anne wasn’t driving she offered to have the Irish coffee and I had a hot chocolate instead. We all had such a giggle over that!

Meet Anne and Jonathan!

My attempt to dry out my jacket didn’t work enough to wear it that night but it was dry by the morning.

And here are some more photos of Montenegro.

In my next post I’ll cover my last day in Montenegro and Serbia! Update to follow. 

Rovinj to Split, Croatia

Melanie de WetLeave a comment

I arrived in Croatia on Tuesday, 17 July. Except for an afternoon in Bosnia and Herzegovina (I’ll discuss this in my next post), I was in Croatia until yesterday, Sunday, 22 July. Croatia is fantastic! I now understand what all the hype is about. 

The intention on Tuesday was to go to Rovinj to meet Milan (a friend from London) via Ljubljana but I ended up sending some work emails in the morning which left me only enough time to walk around lake Bled and head straight to Rovinj. Lesson – don’t do work on holiday!

I arrived in Rovinj at 3pm. I met Milan at the place he was staying with his son. It is just as well that I arrived before them as I discovered, as luck would have it, that my panniers had leaked water in so this gave me time to dry them out in the sun. 

Rovinj, as all the towns/cities I visited in Croatia, is gorgeous! Hopefully I don’t do Croatia injustice by describing it as having an Italian look with an European feel. The old cities have a special class of their own though (something I haven’t found anywhere else in Europe). The weather in Croatia is also perfect (if you like sunshine)! It was 31 degrees Celsius for most of my stay and it never rained once. 

Milan and his son, Stephan, were perfect hosts – they spent the afternoon and evening showing me around Rovinj and wouldn’t let me pay for anything. Milan kept saying ‘you’re our guest’. This was something I learned about Croatian people – they are incredibly hospitable. It was wonderful and most appreciated!

Rovinj is a coastal town about an hour south of Ljubljana. From there I headed back inland to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park. This was my one ‘have to see places in Croatia’. It was packed with people but absolutely stunning! I have never seen water like it. 

The bonus pack was that I met a South African couple on my walk to the park. I couldn’t believe it – Dawn and Paul from Durbanville, which is just outside of Cape Town. They were fantastic! I kept getting lost and running into them so eventually I just tagged along with them and they gratuitously allowed me to. 

From Plitvice I headed south to Zadar. I stayed in the old town. My greatest concern was what I was going to do with Trinity as parking in the old town is on-street. Well, in motorcycle terms in Europe, that means on the footway. This wouldn’t fly in the UK but seems to be the norm here. Bonus! 

I stayed in a place called ‘The Secret Garden’. Most of the accommodation in Croatia seems to be apartments for rent (or maybe this is just the case via bookings.com which is what I normally use to find accommodation). The room was perfectly fine, nothing special, but the courtyard garden was fantastic. My host was equally amazing! I arrived and he offered me a beer (no charge) and sat chatting to me. He works in catering for the fashion industry in Milan most of the year and then spend summer at his family home in Zadar. Apparently Zadar, like most of the coastal towns, are empty most of the year but in summer they come alive. I’m so glad they do!

From Zadar I went to Skradin with the plan to visit Krka National Park (which apparently is similar to Plitvice). By the time I got there though I realised I only had three hours until I had to meet my friend Sally in Split, so I wouldn’t have time to visit the park after all. Instead I sat eating lunch overlooking the lake. It was lovely and peaceful and also nice to get out of the heat a bit. 31 degrees in full biking gear gets uncomfortable when you’re not moving (on the bike to get a breeze that is).

My host in Zadar had mentioned that there was a cute little town just outside of Split that I should see, called Trogir. I had an hour to spare so thought why not. I’m so glad I made that call as I loved Trogir. It felt like a Croatian version of Mykonos, just way smaller and no cruise ships. 

Trogir is a 45 min ride from Split so I left in time to meet Sally at 16:30 as we’d planned. Sal is one of my favourite people in the world so it’s always a pleasure to see her. It also gave me the chance to spend some time with her new boyfriend John and son Shaun, which was great. We spent the afternoon walking around the old town, which is fantastic, and pretty much eating and drinking. It was great!